the reins are kept much tighter over them than of yore. They
are essentially a maritime people, and are not, as far as I have ever
heard, addicted to piracy. They generally sail in small fleets, and are
quite prepared to defend themselves against the common Malay pirate, who
meets a stout resistance when he meddles with them. Like most, or, I may
say, all the inhabitants of this part of the world, they deal more or
less in slaves; and it would not be difficult to prove their having sold
boys and girls in Singapore within these ten years, though I firmly
believe that the disgraceful traffic has been put an entire stop to of
late. These men visit, during the months in which the south-east monsoon
prevails, Torres Straits, and the numerous islands in that
neighbourhood, for the purpose of gathering beche-de-mer and
tortoise-shell. They pick up, also, slaves from Papua (New Guinea), for
whom they find a ready market in Celebes. Our settlement of Port
Essington has long been a favourite resort of the Bugis trader; and were
the Government to encourage Chinese and other settlers, by giving them
grants of land, to establish themselves there, there can be no doubt
that it would soon become a very important place, instead of a mere
military station, or rather place of banishment, for some fifty royal
marines. As for its being a refuge for shipwrecked seamen, I have never
heard of an instance of a crew of the numerous vessels annually lost in
Torres Straits seeking shelter there. This state of affairs would be
altered, however, were the port thrown open to the commercial world. As
it is, a shipwrecked crew landing there, might have to remain a
twelvemonth for an opportunity to get away again; consequently, every
seaman placed in that unfortunate position, pushes on in his open boat
to the Dutch settlements on the island of Timor.

Next in importance to the Bugis, I may rank the Siamese and Cochin
Chinese traders, who arrive at Singapore during the north-east monsoon.
The trade of these two countries used to be carried on entirely in junks
peculiar to each of them respectively; but the state of things has been
materially altered of late. The sovereigns of Siam and Cochin China have
recently built and fitted-out several square-rigged vessels, those of
Siam being commanded by Europeans, and manned by natives of that
country. These vessels are the private property of the kings whose flags
they bear, and are loaded on their account and